The design of many types of footwear is often driven by conflicting considerations. For example, it is normally desirable for an athletic shoe to have a construction that supports and protects a wearer's foot during a particular athletic endeavor. A second consideration, however, relates to the “breathability” of the shoe, which refers to the ease of air flow from the outside to a shoe interior. Good breathability can help relieve the effects of heat and perspiration that typically build up around a foot during sporting activities. Unfortunately, many materials that provide good support and foot protection can block air and moisture flow. Conversely, many materials that facilitate air and moisture flow provide little support or protection to the wearer's foot.
One solution is to fabricate a shoe in which some portions are formed from supportive/protective materials and some portions are formed from breathable materials. However, this can increase the complexity of the fabrication process and increase cost. Moreover, footwear design (including athletic footwear design) is also driven by aesthetics. A complex production process developed to fabricate a complex shoe can potentially limit a manufacturer's ability to vary that shoe's design to achieve different aesthetic effects. Yet a further consideration is the potential increase in waste generated from the cutting of various functional materials for use in the different portions. Fabrication processes and footwear articles that simultaneously address a number of these important considerations, relating to ease of manufacture and good final product characteristics in terms of support, breathability, and aesthetics, are described in U.S. Patent Appln. Publn. Nos. 2011/0088282 and 2011/0088285. These published U.S. patent applications are entirely incorporated herein by reference.
Efforts to improve such processes, particularly in terms of reducing the amount of waste or scrap materials generated, are ongoing in the art. The ability to utilize component materials more efficiently in the fabrication of composites, such as those used to manufacture footwear articles, can lead to significant cost savings. Such improvements can furthermore beneficially reduce the impact on the environment, as both the consumption and waste (disposal) requirements of the materials are diminished.